Apple Watch Users Report Vitals App Detecting Illness Before Symptoms Appear

[MacRumors]

Apple's new Vitals app for watchOS 11 appears to be impressing some users with its ability to detect potential illness days before symptoms manifest, according to recent reports on Reddit.

The Apple Watch app, which analyzes key health metrics measured during sleep over the last seven days, appears to be providing early warnings of impending sickness for at least some Apple Watch wearers ahead of time. It's available on Apple Watch Series 8 and newer models, including the Apple Watch Ultra series, as long as the devices are running watchOS 11.

One Reddit user, RCG21, shared their experience with the new feature:

"I started using Vitals when it first came out on the beta and since then I've gotten sick about twice. Both times it knew a couple days in advance and I hadn't felt anything wrong."

Vitals can be viewed on the Apple Watch in the Vitals app, or in the Vitals section of the Health app on iPhone, where it displays metrics such as heart rate, respiratory rate, wrist temperature, sleep duration, and blood oxygen levels. It establishes a typical range for each user over time and notifies them when metrics fall outside this range.

Another user, dalethomas81, posted a screenshot of their Vitals data, stating, "Woke up today feeling off. Now as the evening is setting in, I am feeling that old familiar feeling in my head. I'm sick." The image showed multiple metrics falling outside the typical range days before the user reported feeling ill.

Some users also reported the app detecting outliers associated with vaccines in their system before they experienced associated symptoms. TizianosBoy said:

"My watch knew I wasn't 100% after my COVID and flu jabs as all three vitals (Wrist Temperature, Heart Rate and Respiratory Rate) were outliers and that's how I knew I was not well, amazing tbh."

While many users praised the feature's accuracy, experiences varied. At least one user in the thread mentioned that the app didn't detect their illness in advance, suggesting that individual results may differ.

Despite signs that Vitals is picking up illnesses before users present symptoms, it's worth emphasizing that Apple says the app is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical conditions. Bear in mind that the ability to measure blood oxygen is not available on Apple Watch units sold by Apple in the United States after January 18, 2024, due to a legal ruling that found Apple violated Masimo's pulse oximetry patents with the feature.

Article Link: Apple Watch Users Report Vitals App Detecting Illness Before Symptoms Appear

 

[MayaUser]

being operated without needed ...

 

[Godspeed8230]

That's great. Now I'll only need to start wearing my AW while I sleep - something I'm a little reluctant to do.
I think Apple should make this available for everyone as the wrist temperature will also deviate during the day and not only at night. Is this something to collect additional data or am I wrong?

 

[FSMBP]

This is fantastic - I like the direction Apple is heading with health/wellness.

 

[gco212]

This might work, but right now, this is an article about two users having confirmation bias.

 

[coffeemilktea]

All of a sudden, I feel a sickness coming on, and the only cure is more cowbell a brand-new Apple Watch. 💸

 

[I7guy]

This might work, but right now, this is an article about two users having confirmation bias.

Similar to afib detection?

I like where apple is going into the health and fitness space.

 

[BarrettF77]

I’m sick of Apple not bringing back the O2 function. Pay up and settle it in court. Customers want the feature. And I held off on upgrades as a result.

But it’s great to see of true these features working as they do. My series 9 is fun to watch what it’s detecting.

 

[polyphenol]

Potentially good. But every week I get this (which is absolutely correct):

I actually almost fall out of my chair the odd week there are a few minutes not in afib!

Hope the vitals don't over-do the warnings.

 

[Shifts]

The watch did this already from before. My series 8 noticed a change in my respiratory rate a few days before I started coughing badly. Was surprised to see it so clearly in those statistics. Of course I didn't think about it until after the fact, but still, the recorded vitals surely showed an increased respiratory rate.

 

[Velli]

Clearly we need a new CEO.

 

[elrojo69]

After my covid and flu jabs.... lol

 

[calliex]

I was going to try vitals app but I do not go to bed at the same time every night. I am afraid it will hound me with alerts I can not turn off. I have a low pulse that is normal for me per my cardiologist. Every so often it goes below 40 and the watch alerts me. When I talked to my Dr. about it he said to take the watch off.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Easy to tell with my Garmin

Low overnight HRV is nearly always an indicator of pending illness for me

 

[ghostface147]

Is this part of the sleep apnea detection? If so, I am 100% diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea, but my series 10 shows nothing of it.

 

[citysnaps]

Nice to know about. Apple Watch has proven to be an outstanding tool with many uses.

 

[pbush25]

This might work, but right now, this is an article about two users having confirmation bias.

That may be the case, but there’s definitely truth to the fact that your vitals begin changing before the onset of symptoms. How far in advance and to what degree all depend on the person and the illness, but you can’t just completely discredit this, even if the experiences are anecdotal.

 

[zorinlynx]

Has there been any news on the blood oxygen sensor support? It seems so odd Apple wouldn't try to appeal this case, or license the patents involved.

I wonder if not enough users have been clamoring for this and the ban hasn't affected sales, so Apple might just be letting it go. Pretty sad if so.

 

[GrayFlannel]

Is this part of the sleep apnea detection? If so, I am 100% diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea, but my series 10 shows nothing of it.

The FDA granted Apple marketing rights. All the AW does is look for patterns every 30 days that might suggest a risk. Perhaps you haven’t worn it long enough.

 

[G3Blue]

My series 10 isn’t detecting blood oxygen (in Europe) 🤷‍♂️ vitals app is blank everyday for blood oxygen, it works when I trigger a reading.

 

[zzmd]

Yeah, lack of oximetry really hampers any health app that Apple is promoting at this time. My advice pay the licensing fee. They’re only four years left on Massimo’s patent so pony up the money and let’s go..

 

[haruhiko]

I’m sick of Apple not bringing back the O2 function. Pay up and settle it in court. Customers want the feature. And I held off on upgrades as a result.

But it’s great to see of true these features working as they do. My series 9 is fun to watch what it’s detecting.

The rest of the world: ???

 

[sziehr]

This is nothing new, the Whoops were detecting covid infections before you knew it. This was published long ago, it's just tracking your data and saying when out of range, apple just cloned whoop.

 

[jhwalker]

I was surprised at this, as well.

A couple weeks back, my Vitals app showed my overnight / resting heartbeat up from my normal 50 to close to 60, my temperature up 1 degree from normal, etc. I was feeling fine. The next night, same thing, but I woke up with a sore throat and chest congestion - start of a cold.

After the first couple of days of the cold, vitals went back to normal as the cold played itself out (miserably).

As this is the ONLY time I've ever seen the vitals deviate from normal, convinced this is 100% correlated with the illness.

 

[citysnaps]

Has there been any news on the blood oxygen sensor support? It seems so odd Apple wouldn't try to appeal this case, or license the patents involved.

I wonder if not enough users have been clamoring for this and the ban hasn't affected sales, so Apple might just be letting it go. Pretty sad if so.

I don't think any Apple Watch user here has any idea what Apple is pursuing on this matter.

It's pure speculation Apple isn't doing anything. Sadly, it's always assuming the worst here when it comes to what Apple does, or what their motivations are.